BENAVIDEZ, Kenneth James M.

BS in Civil Engineering
FOUNDATION ENGINEERING
RESEARCH
FEBRUARY 20,2020

The collapse of Lotus Riverside Block 7 ( 13-story appartment) in Minhang District, Shanghai, China in 2009 is an
accident that killed one person, the building is under construction. In the
investigation said that it has improper construction method that result the
building collapse. The news said due to the construction company’s
ignorance, rather than the flaws in the design or building materials cause
the building to collapse.

In my research I’ve been able to know some of the reason why

the building collapsed, it was caused by earth excavated to make 4.6
meters deep pit for an underground parking area along side the
building, being piled to depths of up to 10 meters on the other side of
the structures. The weight of the pile created a pressure differential
which led to a shift in the soil structure. Eventually weakening the
foundations and causing them to fail. Also while they are constructing
the building the weather there has heavy rain leading up to the
collapse. It is also suspected that the piled-mud, about the height of 3-4
floors, which had been dug out from under the buildings had caused
the ground tilt, and that this led to the bank break and the building
collapse.

Recommendation
 This collapse could have been prevented if inclinometers were installed on the foundation slab which would
measure a small inclination before a final collapse. Also they must use better quality of materials in constructing of
structure.

Reference
https://youtu.be/DS14ysmr6gA
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse_of_Lotus_Riverside_Block_7
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/BL-CJB-2867?responsive=y
 Road collapsed in Nanning City in Guangxi China, the road is near a construction site foundation pit of
a new building office. The failure of the foundation causes the road to collapse. The collapse area was about
60m long and 15m wide with a volume of 4500 cu.meter.

In my research, ive searched that before the road collapse, the road has been reported for having a
40cm cracked but the construction company works continued after the expert considered that the situation
was still safe. In the report the causes of the road to collapse was the retaining wall of the side of construction
has been deformed due to the movement of the soil. There are some important factors that could have
affected the occurrence of this incident. Some are the insufficient of the anchor supporting the retaining wall.
The potential failure surfaces due to active failure and shear failure. Some are the leakage from the pipe
caused the increase in pore water pressure acting on the back of the wall, which reduced the safety factor of
the retaining wall.

Recommendation

Risk assessment should be conducted initially. Monitoring and supervision of works should be
prioritized to ensure that every incident or anomaly is reported so that the appropriate action can be taken by
the person incharge. An effective monitoring system involving by engaging third party health and safety
inspector could increase monitoring efficeincy.

Reference

https://www.geoengineer.org/news/destroyed-road-collapses-onto-a-construction-site-
in-southern-china
https://youtu.be/acMLcc34uBE